How to Build a Big FAT Pantry!

by Todd Walker

Part 3 in our series – The Essential Pillars of Preparedness for SmartPreppers

This is not your typical food storage article. You won’t find buckets of wheat lining our pantry wall. But you may find a few 5 gallon buckets of coconut oil.

Coconut oil. A must have for a FAT Pantry!

Photo by The Organic Prepper

Food is what fuels your body to do all the pushing, pulling, lifting, and surviving – doing the big stuff. But doing the big stuff starts by feeding the small stuff – your cells.

Your body’s 100 trillion cells depend on proper fuel for rebuilding,  regeneration, and healing. Cells need real food to do this stuff.

I had planned on covering more than just healthy fats today, but felt friendly fat needed an article all to itself. We’ll cover more real food later in this series. Stay tuned!

The Big Fat Prepping Paradigm

For optimal performance, you wouldn’t put three-year old untreated, emergency gasoline in your vehicle and expect the engine not to skip, knock, and sputter. It’s a very good chance your ride will leave you stranded at a time you need it most.

And it doesn’t matter how pretty the paint job looks. It’s the things that are NOT seen that cause locomotion.

So, it stands to reason that we should take care of our tiny cells that are hidden under our exterior. Actually, our ‘paint job’ is made of cells too.

In an emergency situation, especially a long-term disaster, you’ll want your body to perform at optimal levels. Firing on only 3 cylinders of your body’s high-performance V-8 engine won’t get you very far.

To get the most out of your ‘motor,’ feed it real, nutrient-dense food.

You don’t have to look hard to see the fat myth alive and… err, getting fatter by the day. In spite of the history of our species and scientific fact, most people still believe fat is a killer and should be avoided like your crazy aunt at family reunions.

Your view of fat depends on what prism you’re looking through.

One dictionary definition of prism is…

~ a medium that distorts, slants, or colors whatever is viewed through it

The unavoidable truth, if you’re willing to dig deeper, is that we humans prefer (physiologically) fat over carbs to fuel our bodies. Our genes came from fat burning ancestors. The obesity epidemic we face today comes from all the glucose released from the high carb grains and sugar of the Western Pattern Diet.

Fat Fuels

When I first ditched grains and sugars I had a hard time figuring out what fats to eat. But once I found them and got fat adapted, my reset button on my genes (and jeans) got pushed. My personal diet consists of about 50% fat intake. So…

What do I store in my fat pantry?

• Animal Fats. These are on top of my list. Tallow, lard, fat fish oil full of Omega-3’s (the fatter the fish, the better). Think canned sardines in olive oil – not water – preferably wild caught fish.
• Pemmican. Here’s my recipe. Prepared and stored correctly, it’ll last for years. My recipe included dried blueberries. For a better recipe, click this link. This is shared for educational purposes only. Do your research and eat at your own risk.

Good thing you don’t eat with your eyes!

• Coconut Oil. This oil is about 92% saturated fat and has an excellent shelf life of several years. I eat it, cook with it, and use it on my skin after shaving. Here are 160 more uses for this amazing oil.
• Olive Oil. Buy the virgin oil.
• Nuts. Loaded with healthy fats, nuts are always close to me at home and work. I eat a small handful in between meals if I get hungry. To keep them from going rancid, we store almonds, cashews, pecans, walnuts, sunflower seeds, and other varieties in the freezer. If our electricity is lost for an extended time, nuts would come out of the freezer and could be eaten without a fire source.
• Yogurt. We don’t actually store yogurt in the pantry. It’s a good source of fat, though. Learn to make your own organic yogurt so you never run out. And none of that low-fat stuff.
• Eggs. The dark yellow yoke of yard bird eggs is what you’re going for. You can preserve your real eggs without refrigeration.
• Butter. Canning butter is an option for longer storage. Can only unsalted butter.
• Rendered Tallow and Lard. I render my own grass-fed beef fat. I have a butcher at an organic market that freezes the fat for me. I buy it very cheaply – $1.00 or less per pound. After rendering the fat, we store it in the fridge and freezer for cooking. An old preserving technique of pouring rendered fat over meat has been used for years.

Rendering tallow in a cast iron skillet – outside. It can smell up the kitchen.

• Ghee. Choose products that are made from quality, grass-fed butter. Making your own is cheaper. Butter contains 16% water and milk fat solids that cause it to spoil if not refrigerated. Ghee is almost pure fat and will last a couple of years in a dark, cool pantry.

I haven’t personally tried the Fat Fuels listed below. I’ve heard good things about them. If you have, please share your experience with the rest of us.

• Avocado oil
• Palm oil
• Palm kernel oil
• Red palm oil

Fats to Avoid – No, Never Eat!

For optimal, long-term health, do not eat refined oils like canola, corn and soybean oil. Avoid all hydrogenated oils. I do own one can of Crisco. It’s earmarked for an emergency candle 😀

Here’s my attitude on food storage. The longer the shelf life, the shorter your shelf. DRG and I don’t aim to store food that will last 30 years in a dark basement. Ideally, we shoot for foods that last 6 months to a year. We store what we eat.

Got any tips on storing fat? Please leave them in the comment sections!

Keep doing the stuff,

Todd

P.S.

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Essential Pillars of Preparedness Series

• Part 1 ~ Health: The Essential Pillars of Preparedness for SmartPreppers
• Part 2 ~ Water: The 2nd Essential Pillar of Preparedness for SmartPreppers
• Part 3 ~ Food: How to Build a Big Fat Pantry